Chidaruma Kenpou: Onorera ni Tsugu
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89)1: Listen up, you all!2: It is time to slay once and for all the detestable filth that is Inoko Gennosuke!

90)1: Find him! We gotta find him!2: I'll separate every last blade of grass until I can have revenge for my master!3: Yeah! We ain't gonna lose to that trash!4: Break up into search teams!5: Create a punitive force!6: We'll have to tear him limb from limb in order to appease Master's spirit!7: It was ten days later when their brave cries quieted down...8: When the Assistant Instructor Shimura Ryuuzou was cut down by Gennosuke...

91)1: Following this, a senior disciple, Yajima Tetsunosuke was found dead in front of the toilet...2: That evening...another senior disciple, Iwamatsu Saburoubei was found in front of the entrance to the dojo...with both of his arms detached.3: It's no wonder that everyone was shaking in fear.4: D-did you see their foreheads...? "Gen" was carved into each one...5: Mmm...hmm...6: What a fearsome man...7: By "all," he means all of us too, doesn't he?8: I imagine so...we did call him "filth," after all...

92)1: Geh!2: Uwahhh!3: Forgive uuuuuuus!

94)1: Prepare yourself, Tsutada Denzaburou!2: Ahh!

95)1: Prepare yourself, Ushimata Toobei!2: Gehhh!3: Gennosuke!

97)1: Kamikura Genzaemon, who previously showed kindness to Gennosuke...2: Fufu...so you followed me, huh...?3: You must want...both of your arms cut off, then!4: Stop this!5: I'm the one who investigated your lineage...under orders from the Master...6: So it was you!7: Unuuuh!8: Wait! I'm your ally!

98)1: Your mother survived!2: What?!3: Lies!4: I saw her die myself!5: I don't blame you for your disbelief...you were betrayed by the master, after all...6: But your mother asked me this...she asked me if Gennosuke was living a proud life!7: I answered...that he was living valiantly.8: Shut up! You lie!

99)1: Sadly...it seems that you are no longer able to believe people...2: One day, though, you'll understand...3: You must stop what you are doing now. Getting revenge on those who ridiculed you should not be your main goal...4: Are you trying to scold me, you bastard?!5: No matter how much I try to achieve my goal, as long as there exist sons of bitches like you who go and investigate my lineage, I will never come close to success!6: Your deeds have taught me just what will happen if I keep trying hard like I was!7: What should I do if instead of seeking revenge, huh?!8: What should I do?!

100)1: Let's think about that together!2: I want to help you as much as I can!3: It's too late for that now, you idiot!4: Are you really trying to kill me?!

101)1: Then kill me!2: I have never once ridiculed you!3: If you still cannot trust me, then kill me!4: Because of my large body and my grotesque face, I have always been a poor peasant laughed at by others. 5: Because of that, I can understand how you feel...and I wanted to become someone who you could confide in. Unable to find the right timing, however, I was left in sorrow...6: It's the truth...I failed due to my own weakness. Please forgive me.7: What?

102)panel 3: Gehhhhh!

103)1: F-forgive me!!2: I only wish for my great Master to rest in peace!!

104)1: Kamikura Genzaemon was told by a doctor that Gennosuke just narrowly escaped death.2: The two of them...were healed at the same doctor's house.3: I'm going to kill you...4: Enough with that talk...I'm sick of it.5: No matter for what reason, the fact remains that you killed your master and tortured many people.6: Losing both your legs is a light punishment...7: You bastard!8: Ugh...9: I cut your legs off because you stole my right arm from me...the punishment must fit the crime.

105)1: But if you train your left arm, you will still be able to swing a sword freely...and walk freely. You can still become a warrior!2: But I will not! Because I cannot walk any longer! Nothing but despair waits for me! Despair, and nothing more!3: Don't raise your voice so much. 4: Swinging your sword around like a fool will do nothing to save the buraku!!5: What a pain...it's the same thing every day with these two...6: ...I'm going to kill you.7: Here we go again.

106)1: Three months later, Kamikura Genzaemon's wounds worsened, and he fell into a critical condition. 2: On that day, he had ignored his own wounds...3: Gen! H-hang in there!4: and had saved Gennosuke's life...5: Inadvertently, his wounds touched the ground and got infected...6: Eventually, Genzaemon came to be in mortal danger.

107)1: It was at this time2: that Gennosuke decided to follow Genzaemon's advice,3: by putting an end to his revenge plot and returning to his original goal.4: Do that...do just that...it will do a million times more good than what you have done up until now...5: These thoughts were erased from his mind, however, when a certain group of people appeared.6: Are you the master here? We're on a trip to my master, a doctor in Kyoto's house, and are looking for a place to rest.7: Ahh, come in! Make yourselves at home, whoever you are.

112)1: Ten years' worth...2: of days and months cleared all remnants of Gennosuke from the samurai and students in the area...until this moment, when Kawakubo Juuzaburou, an ex-student of Ichidensai's working as a mounted official with a 50 koku stipend in Fukuchiyama...3: was assassinated by someone!

113)1: Following this, another ex-student, Himura Gorouemon, was assassinated similarly...2: And the next day, Fujikake Rokuzaemon died in a ditch. 3: Their arms and legs had been cut off, and carved into their foreheads was...4: D-did you see that?! It's the work of Gennosuke!5: Gennosuke's back!6: He's still alive?!7: He's come back to the castle town to kill us all!8: *shiver*9: Who knows when he'll come to strike!10: He might be hiding in the toilet again like when he killed Sir Yajima 10 years ago!

114)1: According to rumors, Gennosuke's just like a daruma!2: Ehh? You mean he has no arms and no legs?!3: Then how can he kill people?!4: I don't know! H-he must just slither along the ground and strike upwards!5: H-hyaaaaah! A-are you trying to scare us?!6: I-I'm going home!7: W-while it's still bright outside!8: L-let's all go home together!9: You live that way, huh? I'd run home if I were you...10: Thanks...11: Hello, I'm home...12: Welcome home...13: Haaa, what a relief...

116)1: According to a vermin-gnawed memoir written by Taira Buemon, a warrior of Fukuchiyama...2: "He carried two short swords wrapped around his arm stumps with straw..."3: "and using them, crawls up to high places"4: "where he can then jump down to surprise attack his enemies."5: "The very sight of such a thing is enough to make any man's blood run cold...we could not stop shivering..."6: Apparently, Gennosuke was greatly feared,7: although there was nothing written by Buemon that detailed the 10 years' worth of training the man endured to reach this point. 8: From what we can gleam from Buemon's memoir, however, the ten years must have gone something like this...

117)1: At night...he snuck out of the doctor's house...2: Hid in dark places during daytime...3: Ate what scraps of food he could find on the ground...4: and then crawled as best he could into the mountains to train himself.5: His clothes most likely ripped...exposing his stomach and skin, soon covering his body in mud and blood. 6: Living in a cave he found in the mountains...7: he would crawl out at night to eat what grass and insects he could find...8: gradually getting faster and faster in speed.

118)1: At one point, he caught a snake in his mouth, and studied how snakes were able to slither so fast.2: As a result, he found that he needed to make his stomach hard and scaly.3: After finding a rock that resembled a snake's scales...4: He skinned his chest and stomach on it day after day...5: until, after shedding a grotesque amount of flesh and blood...6: he hardened himself into the scaly form he'd been after.7: When his horrible work was finished, he was able to move at a frightening speed...8: and then split his sword in two,

119)1: tying the pieces to his stumps with straw.2: With this, he developed a special type of swordsmanship in order to defeat his enemies.3: This is most likely how Gennosuke's 10 years ended up...4: When my final arm was cut from my body...I realized the only thing left remaining for me was revenge...and it was that decision that gave me the power to complete my grim training...5: Ehhh?! 6: Sir Okabe was killed inside his house?! Uheeeee!

120)1: Although it should go without saying, after hearing this...2: a large majority of ex-students3: stayed locked within their estates...4: Hiding in the deepest rooms...5: both body and heart shivering in cold fear.

121)1: Kill him!2: When did all you Ichidensai students turn into cowards?!3: How dare you fear a piece of inhuman filth like this?!

122)1: I refuse to employ even a single servant who lacks this much bravery! You are all now masterless samurai! 2: I-I pledge to you that I will cut down Gennosuke, sir!3: Ohh...Sir Yamasaki is ready to stake his life on this!4: Oh really?! Then show me!5: Bring me his head!6: Wait a moment...I too bear a grudge against that man...

123)1: The man who spoke this was a lone, armless warrior...2: Ohh! It's the senior disciple...!3: Although it pains me to admit it...I am Yajima Keinosuke, the one who had both arms detached by that beast...4: Due to my shame, I have no face with which to match yours, Sir...5: I have been absent training for these past 10 years...thinking of nothing but exacting revenge on Gennosuke...and so, I beg that you please leave the task of killing him to me...6: Hmph! And how exactly do you intend to kill him with no arms?!

124)1: In that case...2: Allow me to demonstrate by slaying that tiger.

126)1: No matter the enemy, if you manage to injure their eyes, they will become helpless...2: ...good point. He's all yours!3: Haha...4: These needles will bear all the pain and suffering I underwent in these past 10 years...

127)1: Where are you lurking, Gennosuke...2: I'm going to mutilate you...

128)panel 5: Gennosukeeeeeeee!

129)1: Gennosuke?!2: You really haven't changed, after all these years! Don't tell me you've forgotten me...?3: I must cut you down...

130)1: You...2: are a child of filth, I hear...3: I am the same...

131)1: Ehhh?!2: I-is...3: that the truth?!4: If I had known you were too, I would have enlisted your help...5: to free the buraku...6: Ehhh?! Y-you were planning to do that too?!7: What? So were you?!8: Y-yes, I was!9: T-that's w-why I...I...uuuuuuuu!!

132)1: I see...so that's what happened...2: If only I had revealed my lineage...then maybe none of this would have ever happened...we might have been able to support each other...3: But you must die now...you have drowned too deep in sin, and no longer possess a body capable of living a proper life.4: Uuuuuu...5: Now, die...6: No! I...I refuse to die until I've finished my revenge!

133)1: You must stop...killing any more people than this will only worsen the buraku's name...2: Don't say that! If you try to kill me, I'll resist!3: I refuse to let you live!

134)1: After being slashed in the face and fleeing...Gennosuke finally defeated the blind Assistant Instructor Shinohara Sakuzaemon the next morning...

135)1: After losing both a senior disciple and their Assistant Instructor at the same time...the remaining ex-students had reached the height of terror...2: Some committed suicide by jumping off high walls...3: Others went mad by simply laying their eyes on daruma!4: Some cried in fear when going to and from their homes!5: All those who have pride in the name of their clan! We must secretly create a punitive force and arm ourselves with pistols!6: Elder! Sir Iwamatsu has now arrived at the castle!

136)1: Iwamatsu!2: Indeed...I am Iwamatsu Saburoubei...3: After having both of my arms cut off by that animal, I disappeared out of disgrace...but have returned this day with the intent to rid this earth of Gennosuke once and for all.4: You really think you can stop him with such a handicapped body?!5: I'm sick of sending people like you out! Each and every one of you are all the same -- weak solitary pawns! This time I'm summoning up the entire strength of our clan to destroy Gennosuke once and for all!

137)1: Muuu!2: You seem to be quite irritated over this Gennosuke incident...but you musn't forget, sir, he is only a single creature...3: Oh yeah?! And you think you can win against him!4: Indeed, I do!5: Wait, wait, wait!6: Ah, sir!7: It's been a while, Saburou!8: Now, just how do you intend to defeat him...?

138)1: Now then...2: After saying this, what Saburou had his servant put on his head was...3: The ultimate weapon designed solely for the purpose of destroying Gennosuke...a sword capable of completely twaining the enemy's skull!4: I have finished my training with it!!5: Interesting!6: Now, if you will, please demonstrate its power for me!

139)1: In that case, I would like to exercise it on some death penalty prisoners.2: So be it! Bring him five!3: The five prisoners' skulls were crushed in the blink of an eye!

140)1: Shouhou 1 (1645), Twenty-Second Year of the Sixty-Year Jikkan Juunishi Calendrical Cycle, an August night...2: The battle between Iwamatsu Saburoubei and Inoko Gennosuke was a violent spectacle!

141)1: Now to finish you!2: The minute he drew!

142)1: Critically injuring the enemy with the intent to down them...this was the soul of Gennosuke's swordsmanship...and the only way for the armless warrior to deal heavy damage to his foes...

143)1: His blades pierced Saburoubei's shoulders so deeply that they cut through his heart,2: but Gennosuke was skewered and killed in the same instant...

144)sfx: Waaaahahaha! sfx: uhahahahasfx:uheeheeheesfx: smile! sfx: smiley-smile!1: Hooray!2: Terrific!3: Excellent!4: Needless to say, excluding the man who recorded this event, Taira Buemon, all the inhabitants of Fukuchiyama were grinning ear to ear in joy...

Afterword: This manga was originally seen as derogatory for the following three reasons: [1] in a portion of an explanation about buraku, which was excluded from this version and is considered lost, contained prejudiced propaganda, [2] since the buraku main character is depicted as being unable to choose any course of action but revenge, it was seen as counteracting the buraku freedom movement that was enacted at the time, and [3] since the main character dies in the end and everyone else is shown as rejoicing over the death, it sends an unconscious message to the readers that all buraku are better off dead.

In response to these three points of contention, the mangaka that restored this manga, Hirata Hiroshi, has this to say: About point [2], since this is a period piece supposedly depicting a tragedy during the Edo era -- in other words, an event in the past, it's bound to bring up problems with a freedom movement happening in the present. The freedom movement's stance on the manga should be seen as one opinion on the event, and nothing more. In other words, it shouldn't have had the power to remove the manga from the shelves.

[3], he claims, is a clear misunderstanding of the ending, which is really depicting the other samurai as even more inhuman of the "monster" they chased to death.

Finally, [1], he states, is the only one contention out of the three that actually has ground. However he notes that at the time when the manga was published, the 1960s, that the so-called prejudiced explanation was something seen as a well-established fact by many people, and not necessarily considered to be discriminatory.

The following piece is a remake of Chidaruma Kenpou by Hirata Hiroshi.